USA Under 20 head coach Thomas Rongen calls out to his players. USA Men's Under 20 defeated Panama 2-0 at Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City, Guatemala on April 2nd, 2011.

U.S. Soccer News:  Thomas Rongen Leaves USSF

Thomas Rongen has left coaching for the U.S. Soccer Federation's (USSF) under-20 Men's National Team after nine years. Many soccer fans have questioned if this is because America failed to qualify for the U20 World Cup this spring, after participating for seven consecutive years.  This may be a signal of bigger changes in U.S. soccer as our country strives to become more competitive on the world soccer stage.  

Thomas Rongen is a former professional Dutch soccer player who played in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, and American Soccer League.

U.S. Soccer told SN that "After speaking with Thomas and having internal discussions, the decision was made to go in a different direction. The timing of the decision allows U.S. Soccer to begin the search for a new coach."  The search for a new coach is underway and several candidates are being reviewed.

Tab Ramos, a former U.S. national team star soccer player who now serves on the USSF ’s technical board and has been the U20 coaching assistant, is familiar with the team and will assume coaching responsibilities as the squad travels to France for a tournament. Ramos has not been appointed the head coaching position, but will be simply leading the team during the upcoming trip abroad. He was part of the U20 staff during the past cycle and he has some familiarity with the players and program.

According to U.S. Soccer's website, "The U.S. U20 Men's National Team missed out on an eighth-consecutive FIFA U-20 World Cup after losing 2-1 to Guatemala. Conor Doyle scored the USA's lone goal, but that was not enough to spark a come-from-behind win against a spirited Guatemala team spurred on by a partisan home crowd in the Central American nation's capital."

At that time, Rongen had said “Obviously we are extremely disappointed by this result. If you look at the game, you have to take your hat off to Guatemala. The home team came to play. They had a good game plan. We have to move on, and I firmly believe that within this group we have very capable players who will move on to represent our team at the senior team or Olympic level, but today wasn’t our day. It was a good host team and our team wasn’t able to click on all cylinders.”

According to Neil Buethe, Senior Manager of Communications, "We will be looking at candidates in the near future, but there are no further comments on the position at this time."

"There are no other coaching changes pending and Wilmer Cabrera, the head coach of our U17 Men’s National Team is currently preparing the team for the FIFA U-17 World Cup this summer in Mexico," confirms Buethe.